The Fifth of Fall
by Deepest Indigo
Summary: AU. Ann was born and is a City Girl, but her mother's last request was for her to spend at least 2 years with her father, who lives in a quaint village away from everything she's used to. Will she survive the next two years with her father?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, I'm just borrowing the characters.

The Fifth of Fall

_Chapter 1:_

She awoke to the sounds of the city with a yawn like she did every day, and like everyday it took ten minutes after her alarm went off for her to crawl out of bed. Trudging in the general direction of the bathroom, the petite redhead yawned and stretched her arms, flipping the light switch as she passed it.

The first thing she saw was hair, hair that was all over the place. With a grimace and a groan she grabbed the brush on the counter and made her way to the shower, brushing her hair, or at least trying to, as she did. The water running, she quickly and silently stripped down and stepped in. As the water ran over her she felt rejuvenated and ready to face whatever fate would throw at her. If she had known then what would happen that day, she would've just ignored her alarm clock for another ten minutes

"Ann! Hurry up!" It was her mom yelling for her. Yes, she Ann was twenty years old and she stilled lived with her mother. Getting out of the shower and wrapping a towel around her body and hair, Ann rushed into her room throwing on the closest clothes she could find. Dashing out the room, the same brush from before running through her hair, elastic in her other hand; she stomped down the stairs to be greeted by the image of her mom.

Her mom was grinning from head to toe and it worried her.

"What?" She asked it coming out muffled due to the elastic band now hanging precariously out of her mouth. Geena just chuckled and gave her daughter a view over. She had apparently decided to wear a plain, not to mention baggy, black tee and a pair of well worn jeans that day, and knowing her daughter she was probably going to wear a pair of sandals despite the cold fall weather.

"Oh nothing," she said with a shake of her head. "I'm just admiring your wonderful choice of attire." Ann rolled her eyes.

"I'm in a rush, mom. I'll have to change into my uniform when I get to work anyway so I don't see what the big deal is." She watched as her mom sighed and looked up to some higher being.

"Where did I go wrong? When did my daughter become such a fashion victim?" Pushing her way past her mother, Ann entered the kitchen only to walk out a few minutes later with a breakfast bar in hand.

"Are you done?" She asked. "If so I'm ready to go now." Geena laughed at her daughter's frustration and went to grab her coat. Ann joined her and slipped her own jean jacket on.

---

As Geena pulled up to the curb outside of the small café she gave her reluctant daughter a kiss on the cheek before letting her out of the old sedan. Her thoughts on her mother's bizarre, not to mention embarrassing, action Ann waved goodbye as she entered the building.

Geena watched in silence as her daughter disappeared from view within the crowded building before driving away. Inside Ann had greeted her coworkers and had quietly slipped into the staff room. Taking her uniform out from her bag she changed in the washroom and when done entered the fray, or in other words the kitchen.

"About time you got here, Missy." Yelled Hank, the main cook, when he saw Ann walk in with a grin plastered on her face. Ann stuck her tongue out at the older man and went to her station. She had been working at the café for over a year now, she had gotten the job due to her excellent cooking skills. A skill that often was a mystery to her, after all her mother was a terrible cook.

Getting into the calm and relaxed zone she usually was in when she cooked, Ann just let things happen. It was just like any other day really. She cooked for a seven hour shift and her work environment was excellent. She was happy with her life so far. Sure she didn't have a big time city job, and she hadn't even thought much about getting a higher degree in learning plus, and this was big for her mother, she didn't have a boyfriend but really she was fine with that. So in a way life was great and nothing could change that.

"Ann, you can take your lunch now." Hank broke through her thoughts and Ann looked up at the clock. It was already 1pm, she took a second look but sure enough the thing read the same. Getting out of the kitchen she first washed her hands and then took off her kitchen wear. Looking somewhat normal even though she was still in uniform, she exited the building and headed to the local deli for a sub.

It was a typical autumn day, cold but yet the sun still shone brightly in the sky. It was days like this that she enjoyed. Pulling her jacket closer to her for warmth she sat down on one of the many benches and ate her sub by herself, watching as the people passed by. It was a favorite hobby of hers actually, people watching. She enjoyed seeing all the different people who walked by her, enjoyed guessing what they were thinking, what they did for a living, or where they were going.

Just as she just finished guessing that a mother and her daughter were heading to the park, a familiar face entered the crowd. It was Hank, or at least she thought it was him, if it was she had never before seen him look so upset and worried. Getting up she rushed over to him. When he saw her, Hank stopped and bent over to catch his breath.

"God, Hank what's wrong? Is it that busy in the kitchen?" She asked with a worried frown. Hank shook his head; Ann was getting worried and was starting to get a bad feeling about this weird behavior of Hank's.

"Ann," he began, taking a big breath of air. "It's your mom…" Her eyes widened and she didn't hear anything after that. It was like someone had muted the world. She saw Hank's mouth move but no sound was coming from it. Everything was slowing down around her.

Suddenly she clutched her head and she felt tears leak from her eyes. She felt angry. Why was she crying? She never cried, not once in her laugh could she remember ever crying. And look at her now, crying like a baby. She thought she felt Hank's arms wrap around her but she wasn't sure. Nothing seemed right anymore and that's when everything went black.

When she came to everything at first seemed white. White walls, white floors, everything was white but slowly the color came back and Ann realized she was back at the café.

"How are you feeling?" Asked a male voice near her ear, it was a familiar voice but she couldn't quite place it yet. She tried turning to the voice but found she was tightly wrapped in a blanket.

"I think I'm ok," She muttered. Her head felt heavy yet light at the same time. "What happened?" She asked, unsure if she really wanted an answer or not.

"You fainted, Ann." Stated the voice sternly, she noticed. She tried yet again to turn to face the voice. Succeeding this time she saw the worry etched over Hank's face. She smiled softly.

"Hi, Hank," She whispered before turning back to look up at the ceiling. "What happened to my mom, Hank?" She asked, asking the question that plagued her. It was the only thing she could remember, something had happened to her mother. What though was the question that really mattered to her at that moment.

Hank was quiet for a while. Ann continued to stare at the ceiling; it had to be bad if Hank didn't want to tell her.

"She died Ann." He finally said his voice was laced with sadness. "There was a car accident. It was really bad, she died on impact."

She kept her head high and held back tears that threatened to fall. Hank sensed her discomfort and got up from where he was on the ground. Patting her reassuringly on the shoulder he left her alone in the room.

Ann lay there wrapped in the blanket, a still figure. It still didn't process in her mind that her mother was dead. It couldn't be real, no. It was just a joke, a sick joke, or maybe it was a nightmare that she was going to wake up from at any moment.

So she just lay there, telling herself this until she finally felt well enough to go to what used to be her mother's and her apartment which was now only hers.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

The Fifth of Fall

_Chapter 2:_

She closed the door behind her once the secretary allowed her in. The office she had just walked into seemed to want to represent the work done within it. The walls were painted a dull grey color; the carpeting seemed to her the same dull grey. All in all it was a dull and gloomy looking room. But what was one to expect when you walked into a meeting about the hearing of a will, sunshine and daisies?

The man behind the desk looked up when he heard the door close shut behind her. He was a balding man, with thin wire glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. To Ann he resembled a mouse.

"Oh, Ann is it?" He squeaked even sounding like a mouse. "Yes well I believe we spoke earlier on the phone, I'm Mr. Daniels. I was your mother's lawyer, not that she ever needed my help. She was a good person, your mom." Mr. Daniels looked down for a moment. Ann fidgeted where she stood before walking toward one of the chairs near the desk. Mr. Daniels was now straightening some papers which lay in front of him and then after sifting through them pulled out an off white sheet.

"Well, if there's no else coming, shall we begin?" He asked her. Ann nodded, still not having said anything to man in front of her.

Mr. Daniels pushed his glasses up so he could read better. After a second he put the paper down. Ann watched in silence as he did this, and then met his eyes. He smiled softly at her.

"It appears that this will be a quick meeting for us Ann. Your mother left everything she owned, everything she cherished to you." The words sunk in and made sense to her.

She had been the only thing her mom had had after all. Both her grandparents had died before she was born and her mom had never really spoken about what life had been like before she was born, she just knew that it had always been just her and her mom and no one else.

"Thank you Mr. Daniels, if that's all you need from me," She stopped as Mr. Daniel's cleared his throat.

"There's one last thing," And now he picked up the will again and read from it.

"Ann," Mr. Daniels began, reading her mother's words.

"I'm sorry for keeping so many secrets from you. I had meant to tell you but every time I tried to I just couldn't say them. My dear daughter, my last request to you is that you spend at the very least two years with your father in his hometown of Mineral Village. Please get to know him, that's all I ask. Also could you tell him that Geena still loves him? I love you, Ann and I will miss you." Mr. Daniels finished and passed Ann a tissue.

She stared at the offered tissue before realizing that she was crying again.

---

After the meeting, Ann packed what little clothes she had and bought a ticket for that weekend to head to the small town whereher father was apparently waiting for her. After he finished telling her of her mother's last request, Mr. Daniels had went on to tell her that he had already contacted her father and everything had been set up. All she knew about the man was that his name was Doug.

It was surprising really. All these years she couldn't remember a single time when her mother had mentioned this Doug. She couldn't help but wonder what else her mom hadn't told her, what her 'secrets' were.

On the day of the trip the weather was dreary; Ann took this as a bad sign. Hank drove her to the docks where the ferry was waiting for her. It was a small boat, made just for the trips between Mineral Village and the city she guessed. She didn't know much about the place she was headed to but she knew it was a quaint place untouched by modern technology. In other words, it was probably going to be really boring.

"Well, this is goodbye Hank," Ann said with a faint smile at the man before her. Behind her the captain, an aging fisherman by the name of Greg, stood waiting.

"The kitchen will miss you, Ann." Hank stated bluntly. Ann chuckled feeling yet again tears well upin her eyes. Holding her head high she grinned.

"I'm sure you'll find someone to replace me sooner then you think," And she winked. The two turned their heads at the sound of the captain's cough. Ann sighed.

"Well I have to go now." She said softly, holding her hand out to shake hands goodbye. Hank took the handshake.

"You take care, Ann." Hank frowned as he watched Ann turn to walk towards the boat. As the gangway was being pulled aboard Ann waved goodbye to her employer and, she supposed, friend.

She continued to stand at the railing, watching the cityscape till it was nothing but a faint outline of what it really was. She would miss it, after all she had been born in the city, raised there and now all of a sudden she was being thrown back to nature. Pushing herself away from the rail she walked over to where the captain was and sat on the bench conveniently located to the rear of the helm.

"You looking forward to meeting your dad, miss?" Greg asked. He himself didn't spend as much time as he used to at Mineral Village, but he still knew who the young lady's father was. He was, in fact, still in shock over the discovery that Doug had a daughter to begin with.

Ann stopped staring at the empty expanse that was the sea.

"I can't really say… since I have no idea what to expect. Do you know Doug?" She asked suddenly curious. Greg nodded and scratched his head.

"Doug's a good man, I can tell you that much." He said with a smile exposing a toothy grin. "He owns the local Inn, I don't know if you know that or not." Ann stared, her eyes not really looking at one thing.

"I didn't know that," She whispered.

"Yes Ma'am, best cook in the whole town I'd say." He threw a look over his shoulder to where she sat, his grin fading when he realized her attention was drawn elsewhere.

'So that's where I get it from then,' Ann thought to herself as a stray seagull caught her eye. Following its motions, she watched as it circled the boat before getting bored and flying off. She envied the bird with its wings and ability to leave whenever it should choose so.

Silence prevailed over the rest of the trip, Ann only got up off the bench to grab a sweater as the night cold swept in. She soon began to see lights appear through the fog. Greg told her it was probably the lights from the homes. He said it was a shame they were arriving at night, they'd miss the beautiful view of a mountain he called 'Mother's Hill'.

"They say," Greg began. "That beyond the waterfall at the base of Mother's Hill lays the home of a Goddess of Harvest. I don't know whether it's true or not but I like to believe it is." The story excited her; she had always been a believer of faerys.

It was thirty minutes later and they were preparing to dock. Ann stood where Greg told her to so she could help with the docking. The whole time she had been staring at the small wooden pier poking out from the sandy beach.

Standing there was a middle aged man with fiery red hair and amustache. His face seemed stuck in a perpetual scowl but despite this he seemed almost nervous; it made her remember her own nervousness.

Time seemed to slow down as she and Greg worked together to get the boat docked. Eventually they got the job done and Ann went to get her baggage as Greg let down the gangway. She watched him do the task out of the corner of her eye and it made her think that only a few hours earlier she had been in the same situation.

Bags in hand Ann walked off the boat and stood to the side as Doug and Greg shook hands. They said a few words, then Greg turned to say goodbye to her and then walked towards the nearby beach shack. She watched intently as he slid the key in and walked into the house. Then it was just the two of them, neither one knowing what to say. It was Doug who spoke the first words.

"You look just like your mother…" His voice was gruff and had a hard edge to it. Ann ran her tongue over her dry lips before speaking.

"Thanks, I guess," Another pause.

"I can take some of your bags." Ann blinked and before she knew it, he had two of her three bags in his hands.

"Thanks." She repeated, dreading the following silence again.

"Well it's late, we should head for the Inn, I'm sure you're tired. We can talk tomorrow morning." Ann nodded and followed behind her father into the cobblestone paths of Mineral Village.


End file.
